I remember the questioning like it was yesterday. Why not football? You’ve been playing that for a while now. Why would you want to run? How do you even know if you’ll like it? My friends and family were wondering why I decided to join cross country, a sport for which I had never competed in and had the little experience of running the mile in grade school. Because of that, I was apprehensive about joining the team in the fall of my freshman year, and in the days leading up to practice I thought about backing out. I ended up attending that first day of practice, and since then I have considered that decision one of the best that I have ever made.

My case is typical for a lot of incoming freshmen who are considering joining cross country but are not quite sure if it’s for them. Cross country gets limited exposure both by the national and local media, so it is kind of an unknown in that regard. But upon close inspection, you and your son will likely see that cross country can serve a variety of different needs, and is the best choice for someone who is doing a competitive sport for the first time.

Cross country has been viewed by many as a fall sport for the athletes who simply aren’t good enough to succeed in football or soccer. In reality, the sport may require just as much athletic skills as any other. Cross country running consists primarily of endurance, but also requires and develops skills in sprinting ability, and on some courses, the coordination and balance to move around depending on the obstacles presented.

Incoming cross country members need not possess the skills upon joining the team. With an experienced coaching staff of lifelong runners, as well as a team of veteran runners who are eager to assist on running techniques, offer advice, and answer questions, newcomers should not feel intimidated. In fact, cross country is one of the few sports where teams legitimately want newcomers no matter how little skill they may have. Because cross country often isn’t the first choice of prospective athletes, the number of runners on the team is low some years, making it difficult to field a competitive roster. Though low numbers haven’t really been an issue in recent years, people associated with the program are constantly recruiting and inviting new members to join, hoping that someone will become immersed with the sport and lead the team to greater heights.

As mentioned before, parents and students can often be hesitant to join the cross country program because of little familiarity with the sport. For your convenience, here is what cross country essentially is:

• Hartford cross country runners run a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) race held on various courses across southeastern Wisconsin once a week, usually on Saturday morning and sometimes on Thursday afternoons. Our schedule is essentially the same for every year, so if you look at the “Schedule” tab on this website, you can get an indication of what times the races often occur.
• Cross country courses are usually within parks, and are ran on a variety of surfaces, including grass, wood chips, dirt, and (sparingly) asphalt. Each course has markings on it directing the runners where to go and usually has mile markers to indicate how far along on the course the runners are. The courses are often primarily flat with a few hills sprinkled in, though some contain more hills than others. As a result, completion times vary course to course.
• There is almost no gray area in cross country. Hartford fields two rosters at mostly every meet (check schedule again for further details), a JV roster and a varsity roster. The varsity roster is comprised of the team’s top 7 or 8 runners (it is at the coach’s discretion on how many run varsity) based on best overall times from the past week’s meet. This is unique from other sports, as cross country coaches don’t put who they want or think should be on varsity, but instead, who the clock from the last meet indicates should be. The JV roster consists of every other runner on the team. Every team member, if academically eligible, without any disciplinary problems, and appearing at every practice during the week or having been excused, will compete at the meet. With the exception of those circumstances, nobody “rides the bench.”
• Parents are welcome at all meets and can line the course to offer encouragement to their son. They must, however, be cognizant of runners that pass through. The course is almost always being used during the meet, as four teams (girls JV and varsity and boys JV and varsity) run it consecutively.

Knowing the background information for cross country is half the battle for a lot of beginning runners, and coaches and veteran runners will willingly answer questions parents and newcomers may have. As a result of the communication between veterans and newcomers and the fact that both varsity and JV members practice together, cross country is one of the few sports at the high school that features athletes of all ages cooperating. Unlike in some sports where lower level teams practice separately from upper level teams and a lot of antagonizing exists, cross country is cooperative and hazing of any kind is nonexistent. For this reason, on a personal note, I was able to respect and aspire to be like many of the veteran runners that I met as a freshman, and enjoy seeing them at the yearly Alumni Run (an optional event) our program holds for current team members and past runners in July. As a senior co-captain in 2008, I hope that I was able to create a similarly favorable impression on the first-year runners.

              If your son wants to try a sport freshman year, cross country can serve a variety of purposes. It can provide endurance, a skill that is useful in practically every sport and will give them an advantage over those less conditioned. It can satisfy one’s competitive desire, as at every meet, runners aspire to break their personal best time or look to improve their time from the previous meet using the higher ability they gained from training during the week. It can be an effective social outlet, as sharing the common bond of a love for running and talking to people during workouts can lead to lifelong friendships.

              For me, cross country provided all the needs I listed in the last paragraph, and by allowing your son join cross country, his needs can be served as well.

Adam Wolf

Hartford Cross Country

Class of 2009